Uncharted 4: A Thief's End entered the fray somewhat unexpectedly at either E3 2015 or 2014, though I'm inclined to believe 2015. The series had already been wrapped up with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, so when I saw the trailer for a new one, I didn't quite know what to think. After stewing on it for a while longer, I decided that I was just kind of lukewarm on the whole idea. In fact, I waited for over a month before getting Uncharted 4 because I just didn't care about it. It ended up receiving 10/10s across the board, but if there is one thing that I've learned from Bioshock: Infinite and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, you can't trust corporate critics. When I eventually picked Uncharted 4 up, I went into it with one thought in mind: "It will not be as good as Uncharted 2."
Was I right? Yes. That kind of goes without saying.
Regardless, is it a 10 out of 10 kind of game? Spoiler alert, no.
Is it at least better than the other two Uncharted games? Yes.
In case it isn't obvious by this point, Uncharted 4 is kind of a mixed bag for me. So, lets just get right into it.
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I'd like to start off this review by talking about the gameplay, because that is one area where Uncharted 4 suffered a bit. In previous Uncharted games, including Uncharted 3, gameplay had a very moment-to-moment kind of feel to it. You would be running and gunning and sometimes you would dangle from a ledge to regain health and sometimes you would throw grenades back at enemies. The point is that Uncharted gameplay has historically been a fast-paced formula that compliments the action movie nature of the story. Naughty Dog proved that they are capable of doing slower, more deliberate gameplay with "The Last of Us," but with Uncharted 4 it felt like they were trying to do both at the same time, and it didn't quite work.
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Stealth has been an optional part of Uncharted since Uncharted 2, but it has always been a purely situational thing. You would have situations where it would really be better to remain undetected, and that made the whole mechanic feel organic. In Uncharted 4, however, there are stealth options for just about every combat area, and the game suggests you make use of it every time.
Let me be clear: I have no problem with stealth. In fact, I would choose a slowly paced stealth game over a run and gun action game any day of the week, but the fact remains that it just feels out of place here. It isn't necessarily done poorly. In fact, the idea that combat dies down if you stay hidden for long enough makes combat feel much more organic. However, the stealth itself just feels awkward. It takes enemies an incredibly long time to realize you are there even when you leap out in front of them into a hiding place. In every stealth game there has to be some suspension of disbelief when it comes to enemy awareness, but in this case it is asking us to take a
lot on faith. It is just disappointing to see stealth done so well in The Last of Us and to see such potential squandered in Uncharted 4.
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Perhaps more disappointing, though, is the actual combat. Whereas combat in previous Uncharted titles was a whimsical run and gun experience unique to the franchise, combat in Uncharted 4 just feels like generic cover based shooting. For some reason it all feels so much clunkier, as if Nathan Drake were wearing a suit of power armor. Aiming feels sluggish; a trend started by Uncharted 3 and continued here. For some reason, when you are aiming your weapon, you line up your shots slowly. That is more realistic, and I understand that, but it clashes with the fast-paced nature of the gameplay even when the fast-pacedness is clunky. If anything, it just adds to the clunkiness.
As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I'm having some trouble putting my thoughts on the gameplay together. What is undeniably true about the gameplay is that it wasn't
bad, per se. It was perfectly functional, and as much as I don't want generic gameplay, generic means tried and true. But it was more than just functional, it was fun. Yes, despite how clunky it was, I had fun with it. Not as much fun as I had in Uncharted 2, sure, but fun regardless. I just really wish they had changed gameplay to make it more unique as opposed to generic.
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Of course, it wouldn't be Uncharted gameplay if there weren't climbing involved, and that has kind of been hit or miss in previous Uncharted titles. In the original and Uncharted 3, climbing was a little inconsistent, and Nathan Drake would always fall to his death at the most inopportune moments. In Uncharted 2, the climbing was responsive in all situations, and I'm glad to say that this is the case in Uncharted 4 as well. Never before have handholds been smaller and the falls steeper, but you feel completely in control of Nathan's movements throughout.
When it comes to the climbing and platforming aspects, Uncharted 4 introduces a new mechanic: The grappling hook. Even though the grappling hook segments are about as scripted as they come, the way in which grappling points are used is typically thrilling and adds a swashbuckling feel to climbing up steep rock faces the likes of which Uncharted has never quite had before, so that is one aspect of Uncharted 4 where Naughty Dog definitely improved upon the existing formula.
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In addition, Uncharted gameplay is nothing without puzzles. Unfortunately, puzzles in Uncharted 4 are actually pretty lame. Not every puzzle can be a giant earth shattering multi-part Uncharted 2 kind of puzzle, but a little bit more effort would have been appreciated here. All of the puzzles in Uncharted 4 tend to be pretty small and incredibly easy. The only time a puzzle takes a long time is when you can't see something, but that isn't something that happens very often. More often than not, the camera repositions itself in such a way that the solution is right in front of you and you have to press a button. If that doesn't happen, then somebody that you're with will typically say something like, "wow! I wonder what this thing over here does!" or "wow! I wonder what would happen if you put this symbol right there!"
Here's the thing, though. Typically, I don't actually care too much about the puzzles, as they tend to seem more like filler than like essential plot devices, but they are usually enjoyable filler at the very least. Point being, I'm not the kind of person who plays Uncharted for the puzzle-solving. In Uncharted 4, however, the puzzles are neither interesting nor essential, so they actually detracted from my experience.
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So now that we've gotten the gameplay out of the way, let's talk about the story and the like. Right from the get-go, Uncharted 4 has a different kind of story than previous titles, and that is a good thing. In previous Uncharted titles, Nathan Drake is searching for treasure because it is just kind of what he does. In this one, though, he is searching for it secretly to save the life of a brother he thought long dead. There are personal stakes involved in this treasure hunt which immediately sets it apart. I do take some issue with the fact that we're expected to completely care about a character that we've not so much as heard about until this game, but that didn't take anything away from the experience.
Basically, the premise of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is this: Nathan Drake has been out of the treasure hunting lifestyle for a few years. He is married to Elena Fisher (the love interest of the last three games), and he is more or less living a normal life. Then his long lost brother, Sam, shows up and tells him that they need to find a treasure they've dreamed of finding since childhood in order to pay off a drug lord that has threatened his life. However, Nathan has promised he is done with that life, so he chooses to lie about his whereabouts to his wife, and we have our story. There is more to it than that, of course, but that is all that I'll say for now.
When it comes to story, Uncharted 4 is not as good as Uncharted 2, but it is still very good. Really, Uncharted 4's biggest strength is in its character building. Nathan Drake has always been a masculine action hero, but in this game we see how this works against him in his personal life. Elena Fisher has always been a rock for Nathan, but here we see her have her own expectations about their relationship. The point is, character development in Uncharted 4, while still a cut below The Last of Us, is far above the call of duty. I really cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed Uncharted 4's character focus. My favorite part of the game was towards the beginning. It is just a scene with Nathan and Elena interacting as a couple, and it is cheesy to some degree, but it shows so much about how their characters evolve when they are together, and it is the kind of thing that Uncharted has needed since the beginning, and I commend Naughty Dog on their character focused direction on this project.
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With that in mind, I would like to take a minute to discuss the game's villains: Rafe Adler and Nadine Ross. Rafe Adler is a rich American man, and while he is not the snake-in-the-grass villain that Harry Flynn from Uncharted 2 was, he more than gets the job done. He is resourceful, driven, and dangerous. His motives for seeking out the treasure weren't all that compelling, and I had a hard time believing that those motives would drive somebody as much as they drove him, but it is a testament to the character-driven focus of Uncharted 4 that this villain even had motives above personal gain. In a series with such lame villains as the warlord Lazarovich, this is a welcome addition.
Nadine Ross, on the other hand, is not compelling at all. I won't be taking off points for it, because Rafe evens it out nicely, but it is still something I would like to talk about. Nadine is the leader of a group of mercenaries...and that is it. She is your average mercenary leader character. That is really all there is to say about it. In a game with so much focus on characters, I was disappointed to see yet another tough-and-thats-it woman character in charge of mercenaries. That was the one cliche that Uncharted had not used yet.
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Of course, all the character development in the world would mean nothing if the acting weren't good. Luckily, that isn't the case in Uncharted 4. Every character in this game (including Nadine) was acted well. I was listening to Sam Drake talking and I was thinking, "wow, this guy is great. I wonder who he is?" I looked it up, and, what do you know? Troy Baker. I'm yet to see a weak performance from him. But the person I'd really like to commend is the actor who played the younger Sam Drake, Chase Austin. Of all the performances in this game, Mr. Austin's was the most impressive. I could talk about it all day and there would be no way to prove it. If you get the game, you'll know what I mean.
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There is another negative thing I would like to talk about, which is the structure. In past Uncharted games, game chapters would focus on one thing, one location, etc. The point is that there was a major sense of progress because chapters would seamlessly flow, but they would encapsulate one location or idea each. One chapter would take place in a monastery, the next would focus on a chamber deep within it, if that makes sense. However, in Uncharted 4, there is far less focus in the chapter structure. The game's location does not change very often, so what ends up happening is that there will be as many as five chapters that take place on the exact same island in the exact same jungle. This is not the same as the monastery example I gave because you will be in an area that is literally indistinguishable from other areas. It makes the game feel stale after a while. I mean, I love green tropical forests as much as the next guy, but when you spend a total of 15 chapters in the exact same tropical forest in a game from a series in which there is typically a lot of variety, it gets old. Then there are some chapters that literally make no difference whatsoever. I won't spoil what they are, but there are legitimately chapters that add nothing to the plot or to character development but simply exist as filler.
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Now, before I conclude, there is one last thing I would like to talk about, and that is the ending. I wont spoil what happens, obviously, but I would still like to discuss it. The Last of Us was a game that had a perfect ending. That doesn't mean that I absolutely loved the ending, but it does mean that its story ended exactly the way that it needed to. In my time as a gamer, only a few games have had perfect endings. Those games are: Halo 3, The Last of Us, Undertale...and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Like I said, when I declare that a game's ending is perfect, I don't mean that I loved it to death. I mean that this ending was exactly the ending that
this story needed. Naughty Dog has officially ended two games perfectly, and for that, I commend them.
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As I have said, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is kind of a mixed bag for me. In terms of gameplay, Naughty Dog has taken something of a step backward, but in terms of story and character development, they have definitely taken a step forward. Ultimately, I wish that Uncharted 4 had been stronger, but I am glad that Uncharted ended on this note instead of with Uncharted 3. This was definitely a stronger ending chapter than Drake's Deception dreamed of being.
So, let us review the negatives and determine how much they matter.
Weak Combat - .5
Subpar Stealth - .3
Uninspiring Puzzles - .2
Poor Chapter Structure - .5
So, with that in mind, my final score for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is...
8.5/10 - Quite Good
Good work, Naughty Dog, good work.
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